The Reluctant Sith
by EvilReceptionistOfDoom
Summary: A poor freighter pilot from a backwater system is about to have his life turned upside-down. He will rise to become one of the most powerful Jedi the galaxy has ever known - but in the struggle between light and dark, there are always casualties.
1. He is sent on an errand

"Morning, Daria." The pretty girl glanced over her shoulder and smiled. She had been grooming her worna but now she let the animal free to graze and walked over to greet the young man who stood in the lane with a stack of packages and letters in hand. He was not the postman, but a freighter pilot named Lex who often did odd jobs for Papa. He might be dressed in worn work clothes and his hair might need a trim, but to Daria Nuanan he was the handsomest man in the whole Sorrus system.

"Hi, Lex," she said, brushing a tendril of hair behind her ear shyly. "Are you just delivering packages today?"

"No, your dad said there might be a gaffle shipment for the Outermost planet. And he wanted me to repair the shutters on your barn."

Daria pleaded, "You'll fix the shutters first, won't you? It's been at least a week since you were last by, and I've missed talking to you."

He grinned. "Would I ever pick a delivery over you, Daria?"

After she brought the mail inside - his shoes were too dirty for Lex to enter the house - Daria and he walked together to the barn, hand-in-hand. Lex had come from a wealthy family like Daria's, but his parents disowned him when he was still a boy. Daria had known him since they were very young; she had watched his parents push him away, and offered him a place to stay in this very barn when he was turned out of his house, and that was how he had come to work for her father. As he climbed the ladder to fix the shutters, Daria stood near the bottom. "Lex," she said, "are you ever going to admit how you feel?"

"I can't guess what you mean," he replied, tapping the loose nails in with a hammer.

"That you want to court me. Papa likes you! He'll surely agree."

"But your mom doesn't."

"It's just because you're poor."

"That's all it takes. Besides," he added, descending the ladder to move it to the next shutter, "I've almost saved enough for a down payment on a house in the Silver Hills. If I can prove I've a place for us to live, that might make your mom more amenable to our courting."

Daria sighed. She held the ladder steady while he climbed it again. "Lex Eldin, just once I wish you wouldn't be so damned logical."

Before he could reply - to make a joke, no doubt, and brush off her remark - Daria's father drove up in his gleaming white speeder. "Eldin!" he shouted. "Best leave those shutters for later. Got twice the gaffles I thought I had; you'll have to get moving now if we're to get them all to the buyer on schedule."

"Yes, sir! Get right on it!" He descended the ladder and handed the toolbox to Daria with a sigh. "I tried," he said.

"Come home soon," she murmured. She bid him farewell with a quick kiss on the cheek, and Lex ran to meet her father.


	2. The hand of the Empire

Lex had been flying goods between worlds - at least, between the four inhabited worlds of the Sorrus systen - for about five years now, and this was the first time his ship had been stopped. The Imperials in this sector were generally pretty lax about their job - not that there was anything to worry about; the Sorrus system was an agrarian backwater, cold, rural, of interest only to its own natives. Any Imperial posted here was an Imperial the Empire didn't want in a position where they could do any actual damage. Sorrus got the stupid ones, the lazy ones, the incompetents - and, Lex was about to find, the dangerous ones.

"Cut your engines and prepare to be boarded," the radio barked.

"I don't understand why you're boarding me," Lex replied as he slowed the freighter to a halt. "You saw all the clearances are in order. A simple scan will clear this up. I'm just carrying fruit-" But the channel had been closed. The loud clunk of another ship attaching to the freighter's airlock was the only answer he got.

Lex Eldin cursed under his breath as he rose and went to meet the Imperials. As the airlock door opened, he began, "This has got to be some kind of mistake."

"The Empire doesn't make mistakes, boy," came the sneered response from a balding, scowl-faced Imperial officer. "We have reports that this ship is carrying stolen goods to the Rebellion. Open your cargo hold to be searched."

Lex glowered at the door of the hold as he opened it, muttering foul words under his breath. As a pair of stormtroopers entered the hold with scanners, Lex turned again to the officer and said, "You know there are dozens of ships in the system that look exactly like this one. You've got the wrong freighter."

The Imperial cast an unpleasant glance in his direction. "Are you implying, boy, that the Empire cannot tell one ship from another?"

"No, it's just-"

"Don't talk back to me, boy."

"I'm not! I'm just saying that-"

The officer drew himself up and snapped, "Against the wall. Your lack of cooperation leads me to believe you might be a rebel yourself. Hands where I can see them."

Lex was growing less amused by the second. He backed up against the wall, holding his hands up halfheartedly, but couldn't help rolling his eyes.

Unfortunately, the Imperial saw.

"Face to the wall, scum! Hands flat on the bulkhead! Legs apart! You'll submit to a search, and you'll do it peaceably or I'll be forced to bring you into custody."

Lex clenched his teeth, now getting really angry, but he did as instructed and waited to be patted down. Instead, the officer walked up until his body was pressing up against Lex's, and to the young man's shock and horror, the Imperial gripped his rump in a distinctly non-search-like manner. Lex whirled at once and shoved the officer back. "What the hell is this? You board my ship and then try to grope me? What's wrong with you?"

The Imperial's face turned red. "Assaulting an officer of the Empire," he said coolly, "is an offense punishable by death."

"Oh, that's rich. I assaulted you, now? I pushed you away in self-defense!"

The man's lip curled back. "Men, did you see him assault me?" The troopers all nodded yes. "See?" the officer said with a sneer. "Witnesses. You're under arrest, scum. You'll see execution before the week is out." He sniffed and eyed the other's trousers. "Stupid boy. Should've cooperated when you had the chance."


	3. He is sentenced

After a minor beating and a handful of days in a bare metal cell, Lex woke to the hiss of the door and a stormtrooper pulling him up by the arm. "What's going on?" he asked, still a little groggy.

"You've been sentenced. You're on your way to a labor camp, where you will live out the remainder of your days in service to the Immortal Empire. Long live Supreme Leader Corvus!"

"Wait! Sentenced? Already? Don't I get a trial?"

"Shut up, rebel scum," another trooper barked, shoving Lex into the wall so hard that his head spun for a moment. The stormtroopers clapped his hands in binders and led him down the corridor to a small transport. From the transport - who could tell how long any of this took, in windowless hyperspace - he was moved to a bigger transport with a lot of men crowded onto it. This group was herded onto an even larger transport, and when at last they were brought out of the ship into the open, it was on solid ground. No one talked through any of the journeys; any man who dared speak was clubbed with the butt of a blaster.

Needless to say Lex Eldin was rather bruised by the time he disembarked.

"Where is this?" Lex asked one of the guards as he stepped onto unfamiliar soil.

"Labor Camp 2-12-CDKMU."

"But what system?"

The stormtrooper laughed. "We like to call it 'Dead End'." Another guard shoved Lex along, for he was dawdling, and at last the reality of his situation hit him.

Before Lex Eldin lay a windswept, overheated rock with a tangle of gantries and tunnelling equipment clustered about an opening in a hillside. A mine. He looked desperately skyward, and even the stars were foreign. Not one pattern in the heavens sparked familiarity. As the crowd of convicts were corralled into the mouth of the mine, and harsh artificial light replaced the stars, Lex had the horrible thought that he might never see the stars again... ever. Because that was what the guard had said: the rest of his life. This was it. He would never see Daria - or his home planet - or even the Sorrus system - ever again. This was his death sentence.


	4. He is recruited

Lex did not make friends in the mine. His effective inability to keep his mouth shut meant that he had earned the wrath of the guards before his first hour on the planet was out, and the other prisoners, seeing him made an example of, steered well clear of him after that. Lex had done mining before, but, despite the work was backbreaking and neverending, he still managed to find a myriad of ways to inadvertantly antagonize his captors: pointing out a safety hazard in one of the stopes, asking for water for another prisoner, catching an attempted blow, dodging a blow, returning a blow. By the time a month had passed, Lex was looking a little worse for wear, and the other convicts were actively avoiding him.

"What's this one?" came a female voice from behind as Lex pounded a rockbolt into the cavern wall with a sledgehammer. No one else was in this section of the stope because the prisoners moved away whenever he came near them. He didn't bother to turn, but a hand gripped his shoulder and forced him round.

The woman who stood over him was a Togruta, much taller than him and sharp-toothed. She wore all black, a tight black jumpsuit from chin to wrist, with high black boots and a flowing black cloak. But her skin and eyes were red, and her lekku, or head-tails, were red striped in white. Lex felt a chill go through him. Sith.

She gripped his chin, making him flinch because of a bruise, and she laughed softly. "Trouble with this one, sergeant?"

The guardsman scowled. "He's stubborn and lippy and won't take a hint. Won't last long at this rate."

"What's this about?" Lex asked, frowning and pulling out of her hand. "Who are-" But the guard struck him in the gut with the end of his gun, and the young man doubled over and crumpled.

"See what I mean?" the sergeant sniffed.

"Put him aboard my ship with the rest," said the Sith woman. "You've spirit, boy. Perhaps the Dark Side will suit you better than this grave."


	5. A Sith welcome

The Togruta's ship held about fifteen men, some of whom had clearly come from a different prison camp. She took them to Korriban, the Sith homeworld and the Dark Side's most sacred site; he knew because she told them this. The group were put into cells. A few hours later a couple of Sith came down the corridor, stopping at each cell to test the occupant. Lex, lying on his back on the floor of the cell staring at the sandstone ceiling, knew they were coming because he heard screams now and again, and they were getting closer. Out of the pot and onto the burner, he thought gloomily.

"Rise to greet your new masters, slave!" a voice snapped as the cell door whined open. Lex sighed and stood, but evidently not fast enough. An unseen force struck him and knocked him flat again. One of the tattooed newcomers chuckled.

"Let me try," said another voice. A moment later the same unseen force pulled him back to his feet. The Togruta woman was there, but now joined by a Devaronian male with his horns plated in gold and a human of indeterminate gender, whose face was so tattooed the features were almost obscured.

"Block this if you can," this last one cackled. It thrust both hands at him, and Lex spun away from the blow he could not see but could sense. "Block, not dodge!" the person roared, throwing another invisible volley at the prisoner. Lex brought both arms up to stop it, in desperation; the energy hit him but this time he did not lose his feet.

"I knew it," said the Togruta, her lips curling into a smile. "Supreme Leader Corvus will be pleased with me.

"As if the Supreme Leader cares anything for these pathetic recruits," the Devaronian growled, derisive. "Let's have a little fun with the worm, shall we?" He snapped his fingers, and a little spark of blue appeared at his fingertips. Lex took an unwilling step back. _Worse and worse!_ he thought. But when the Devaronian cast the spurts of electricity at him, Lex did not try to dodge. They'd told him to block, so in a sudden leap of faith he held both hands before him and pushed back as the lightning arced to meet him. With a surprised crackle the bolts fizzled and sputtered out. Lex opened his eyes, confused by the silence.

"That's impossible," the Devaronian hissed.

"Let me." The woman pushed him aside, cracked her knuckles, and jabbed all her fingers in Lex's direction. This time the young man was not ready, too shocked by what he had just done, and the lightning, more coherent than the Devaronian's, hit him full force. He was on the floor before he knew it, jerking and writhing, moaning soundlessly, in agony. It lasted but a moment, yet the pain lingered long after, and paralysis with it. Lex felt helpless and afire. He felt like he was shrivelling into dust.

"Perhaps it was a fluke," said the androgynous Sith.

"No," said the Togruta. "We'll report this. Come, on to the next candidate." The door screeched closed behind them, but it was an hour or more before Lex could stand.

It didn't stop there. Each day the prisoners were tested - sometimes in the cells, sometimes at a special site elsewhere. They had to run a maze blind. They had to jump a chasm. They had to outrun a Nexxu. They had to correctly guess the contents of a dozen boxes, and any incorrect answer was rewarded with a bite or a sting from whatever was in the box. On and on the tests went. Lex was aware that there were fewer and fewer participants, and vaguely acknowledged that many of the missing prisoners were dead, since for several of the tests to fail was to die. Yet he was more preoccupied by the hell the Sith personally subjected him to. His adeptness with the Force had not gone unnoticed, and the Sith acolytes, jealous of his skill and generally malicious, picked him out especially for torture, dropping by the cell between tests to have a bit of fun. The passage of time fell to a blur, the events that populated it to an excruciating haze. When rescue came, Lex was not conscious of it. He knew only that, for a time at least, the pain had stopped.


	6. Training begins

"Lex. Lex Eldin."

"Hmmh."

"Lex. Wake up."

The young man blinked, his eyes still a little swollen, and saw a soft white light and an indistinct shadow leaning over him. _How odd_ , he thought, _I must have dreamt it all. I'm sure I've overslept but I'm still so tired..._

"Lex. It wasn't a dream. Wake up, now."

"Daria?" he ventured, bewildered. His voice was hoarse and weak and raspy.

"My name is Alhena." The shadow swam into a little more detail. It was a beautiful, regal woman with long-lashed black eyes and silky black hair pulled back in a loose ponytail to one side of her face. "Do you remember anything, Lex?"

He winced a little as he struggled to sit up. "I- I was arrested and- there was a work camp, then- Oh, God, then the Sith! That Sith woman came and took us to Korriban and they did such horrific things! My God, they killed everyone! For sport!"

"Calm down," said the woman, laying a hand on his forehead, and at once Lex felt calm flood his body. "You're free now. But unfortunately, you were the only survivor."

"How did- how did you get past them all? There were so many of them! How did I - I couldn't have survived, they- they wanted me dead-"

"Calm," the woman repeated. The resurgence of panic subsided. Lex's breathing slowed and the woman took her hand away.

"Now," she said. "My name, as I said, is Alhena Corsanna-ta-Nerush. You're aboard my ship, the Silverhawk. I was able to rescue you because, Lex, I'm a Jedi. And I've brought you into my care because you are powerful with the Force. You have an incredible gift. You must have had some inkling of it, growing up. You must have seen you were faster than your peers, more agile, more perceptive. You must have noticed how your life formed a pattern to guide you along. Perhaps you were strangely lucky - or you knew the hearts of others - or saw things before they happened."

Lex thought about this, still quieted by the woman's strange effect on him. "Yes," he said slowly. "I was different from the others. But my parents said it was fearful and came from the Devil and I mustn't humor it, so I tried to push it back down. But I wasn't good enough at pretending, and finally they kicked me out of the house. I became an orphan that day." He paused, wondering why he was telling this stranger something so private.

"You don't need to hide anymore," Alhena said gently. "You don't need to push it away. You can let the Force fill you inside and out, and I will teach you how to harness that power and do such deeds as the galaxy has never seen. Would you like that?"

"What do you mean?" he asked, feeling stupid.

"Lex, I want to train you to be a Jedi. Will you be my apprentice?"

For a moment the young man was speechless. But then he felt a stir of excitement. A Jedi? Was there anything so astounding as that? If he became a Jedi- if this woman could train him - and he returned home, and went to Daria's parents and asked to court her, they wouldn't hesitate to agree. Why, he might even be able to go _home_ home, to his parents, and stand before them with pride, and explain at last why he had been such a burden to them. They might take him back! If he were to become a Jedi... what life would not be open to him?

"Will you let me train you, Lex?" the woman said again, her voice soft and encouraging.

Lex nodded. "Yes, I will. Gladly."

Alhena smiled. "Excellent."


	7. He learns his power

They began his training while he recuperated from his injuries. Between physical therapy with the medical droid and and bacta treatments, Alhena would come by and teach Lex basic principles of the Force and its handling. He picked it up quickly. Soon he was moving objects around the room as if he'd been doing it all his life. She taught him to use the Force to hold himself up somewhat, so that he could get back on his feet with less trouble. When he was mostly healed, she took him to a large empty room that she called a training arena and started instructing him on how to fight. When they were not doing physical training, she was teaching him meditation techniques or showing him how to make his own lightsaber. The days flew past. Lex was eager to learn, enthusiastic, and followed her instructions precisely. He never stopped asking questions. Sometimes he would catch her smiling as she watched him, as if she knew something about him that he didn't.

"Am I doing all right?" he asked one day in the training arena.

"You're doing more than all right. You are destined for greatness, my apprentice."

"Do you really think so?" He sounded hopeful and buoyant, like a kid. But then, he _was_ very young. Alhena's lips curved upwards in amusement.

"Harness your emotions," she said, "and move that bulkhead."

"Wait- you- you want me to rip up your ship?" He looked startled.

"Yes. Have confidence, Lex - it should be easy, with the Force."

Lex looked uncertainly at the bulkhead she indicated, but he nodded to himself, lifted his hands, and directed all his energies at the wall. Alhena had told him that every feeling could be converted to power: anger, love, joy, fear. Now he reached into all his mixed emotions and pulled out that power. His eyes narrowed as he felt the bulkhead giving way. He strained to move it, and a little more anger welled up in him that he couldn't move it, fear that Alhena might think him weak, wonder at his own abilities, pride at the compliment his master had just given him. The wall whined and vibrated but did not come loose.

"Think of something that makes you passionate," the Jedi said gently. "Think of a lover - or of the Sith who tortured you. Draw upon your feelings and use them. Turn the Force to your will, Lex."

In his mind's eye he saw the Togruta woman on Korriban, laughing as she electrocuted him. At once power rippled out; he thought of Daria and when they first kissed, of the injustice that had taken him away from her, that even now kept them apart, and the bulkhead screeched and snapped off, crashing into the near wall with thunderous sound. Torn cables hung from the opened wall, dribbling sparks. He had not just rent the bulkhead, but actually ripped a passage right into the adjacent corridor.

"Holy God," he gasped, stumbling back.

"Lex! That was wonderful!" Alhena cried, clapping in delight. "You truly are a gifted young man. Soon you will be more powerful than anyone I have ever trained. Think of it! Think of your destiny!"

Lex's astonishment turned to happiness at her words. He started to laugh. Wouldn't Daria be amazed when he showed her his Jedi powers! If he could do this, what _couldn't_ he do? Nothing would keep them apart.

"Should I put it back?" he asked, grinning but a little sheepish.

Alhena flipped her hand dismissively. "No need. Come, let's celebrate. I think it's time you finished your lightsaber."


	8. Darth Venom

From then, Lex's powers tumbled out in a dizzying rush. Alhena started having him fight holographic simulations - holograms with physical presence and the ability to produce actual lazer blasts or lightsaber approximations. The practice battles became harder and harder, but Lex was confident now - more confident then he had ever been. He beat all of the holograms with ease.

But one day he entered the arena to find something that stopped him dead in his tracks. The Togruta woman - the Sith who had caused him so much misery - stood on the opposite side of the room. She saw him and laughed cruelly. The laugh brought back dark memories. Lex felt himself waver.

He looked searchingly at Alhena. "Master, what-"

"It's only a simulation," she said reassuringly. "You must learn to face your fears, Lex. You must kill her now to be free of her later."

He nodded quickly. Of course she was right. It would be a sort of symbolic release - killing the past to free the future. "All right," he said.

"Be careful, though - this time the simulation will include Force powers as well. Be strong and certain, my apprentice."

She stepped out. He knew she had gone to an observation room, from which she watched every one of his training sessions and occasionally dispensed advice via intercom. The Togruta laughed again. "Not so strong without the master's protection, are you, boy?"

Lex took a slow breath. He could feel so much right now: rage, anger, hatred, vengeance, fear. But also confidence - determination. He could, and would, defeat this monster, once and for all. And she would leave his thoughts forever. He drew up his emotions, feeling them burn stronger, and with them the power of the Force. He ignited his lightsaber.

The fight was his most difficult yet. And the danger was as Alhena had warned him: the Sith woman Force-shoved him and shot Force lightning his way, but he intercepted it with his lightsaber and dodged her blows. He pushed closer and closer, the rage boiling higher and higher, and all at once it was over. She shrieked and fell to the floor in two pieces.

In two pieces.

It wasn't a hologram.

Lex choked and fell on his knees, scuttling back and away from the dead Togruta. It hadn't been a simulation! And he had killed her! He was a murderer! No matter how much hatred he had felt for his tormentors on Korriban, no matter how much he had wanted them dead, he had never- meant to actually-!

"Lex! Look how you've grown in the Force!" He whirled as Alhena walked, beaming, into the room.

"You lied to me!" he cried, struggling clumsily to his feet. "You said it was only a simulation!"

"So? If I hadn't, you wouldn't have killed her." She was smiling smugly now, none of her usual gentleness in the expression.

Lex stared at her. His mind was reeling - but one thing emerged. It was like the anger he had felt before, but much more, much deeper, much more all-encompassing. Betrayal. She had lied and she had made him kill. She was an imposter. She was-

"You're a Sith," he said suddenly.

"Oh, please, Lex, let's not be so simpleminded."

"Is there anything you _haven't_ lied to me about?" Heat was flooding him from within - a rage such as he had never known. He felt as if he might explode.

"The Dark Side is more powerful than you can imagine, Lex, and if you only give in you will surpass every other Force-user in the galaxy. You will be by my side as my assassin. No one will be able to stand against us."

With a new clarity born of his fury, Lex realised then now seemed so obvious. "You- you're Darth Corvus. You're-"

"-the Supreme Leader of the New Order Empire? Yes, I am. And you are my apprentice."

"I'll _never_ serve you!" Lex threw himself at her, and with him came an explosion of Force so strong it rattled the floor. But Corvus sneered and deflected the explosion back at him, and Lex slammed into the wall. He recoiled with a groan, his head reeling.

Alhena walked up and stood over him. With a gesture, she lifted him into the air and carried him after her down the hall. He was immobile; no matter how he tried to break free, she held him rigid.

They reached his room, but this time there was something new: a mirror. Darth Corvus held her apprentice before the glass. "Look at yourself, Lex. Do you see a Jedi? Of course not. I lifted you out of mediocrity; I won't let you settle for weakness now. You are a Sith. And you are mine. Surrender to the power of the Dark Side... Darth Venom."

The sight before him took the breath out of Lex's lungs. He had not seen himself since before he was captured by the Empire, and he had not thought he could have changed so much. In place of the face he knew - a trusting, easy, young face that he had never thought too much about - was a gaunt, scarred, flinty-eyed face with hooded eyes. For a moment, his eyes appeared red; but then it was gone. And he saw with a shiver one more legacy the Sith on Korriban had given him: a set of tattoos like black slices in his neck, a black streak like warpaint across one eye, with recurved teeth up his temple and down his cheek, black spears down his forehead, black stripes on his ears, and bony black spikes crawling from his spine over his shoulders like ragged wings. And then there were the marks that covered him from head to foot, a living memorial to past abuses. He looked like something out of a nightmare.

"I sense your confusion, your despair. Use it. You cannot stop the Dark Side. You cannot change what you have become. I told you that I would teach you, and I will, whether you wish it or not." She turned him to face her and forced him to the ground, to his knees before her. "Swear allegiance to me, Darth Venom."

"I will never be a Sith," he mumbled.

"You are _already_ a Sith. Swear your allegiance or I will have your system wiped out of existence."

"You can't-"

"How many planet-killers have there been, my apprentice? Would I not have one of my own? I can wipe out any system I wish. Swear your allegiance." As she spoke this last phrase, she laid her hand on his forehead, and with her touch Lex felt all the fight go out of him. She was right. Of course she was. He looked like a Sith, anyways, and if Daria saw him she'd run. He'd been poison at the prison mine - he'd be poison to anyone normal, now more than ever. His future had already been taken away. At least if he obeyed Alhena, Daria might have a future without him.

"You win," he said, the words coming stilted and miserable. "I swear... my allegiance to you... Darth Corvus. As your apprentice - as Darth Venom."

Alhena smiled and nodded, and at last her hold on him released. "Rise and rest, Lex. You may hate yourself now, but I think you'll find the Dark Side offers greater freedoms and greater pleasures than you guess. You've made the right decision."


	9. A rebellion

The training continued, and Lex tried to forget that his master was a Sith and return to the excitement he had felt earlier. Instead, all he felt was anger and despair. And the arena fights continued, but this time he was being pitted against Sith acolytes or insubordinate Imperials as often as against holograms - more often, as time passed, and then exclusively. He told himself they were the enemy. He recalled how he had been treated by the Sith and by the Empire and that made it so much easier - but even so, the killing remained horrible, and he left every fight with a bad taste in his mouth.

He was a fool to think Darth Corvus would allow him to remain in this uncomfortable limbo. That she would let him remain neutral in the Force, or at least more neutral than her. No: she would make him a true Dark Jedi. She would erase the good from him and leave only misery and hate.

There was no one in the arena when he entered. When the door opened, he expected Alhena, but instead it was a Rebel soldier, a bruised, blond-haired, uniformed stranger with a blaster in either hand. Lex knew at once it could not be a simulation, or it would not have been able to be pushed into the arena by a group of stormtroopers. It must be a prisoner, someone Alhena considered equal to Lex's talents, or at least enough of a threat to offer mortal danger. It was clear she wished to force him to kill one of the "good guys", but Lex couldn't let her push him further down the path of evil. He simply wouldn't do it.

The Rebel, on the other hand, clearly had no qualms about killing _him_.

"Sithspawn!" he yelled when he saw his opponent. Hastily Lex whipped out his lightsaber and deflected the blaster bolts.

"I'm not Sith! Whatever she told you, it's a lie!"

The Rebel snorted derisively at this but didn't say anything. He only continued to shoot. He was deaf to Lex's pleas of innocence. And, unfortunately, he was a skilled fighter, which made it difficult for Lex to avoid hurting him without getting injured himself.

"I'm not going to kill you," he tried again.

"Good - that'll make it easier for me to kill _you_."

"Corvus will kill you if you do!"

"Corvus'll kill me either way, chump."

After quite a while of frustrating back-and-forth, Lex began to despair. The Rebel was beyond stubborn. It would take something really drastic to convince him Lex was genuine, and even then... Well, he had to try or this would never end. With a deep breath, Lex turned off his lightsaber and holstered it. He held up his hands. "We're not enemies."

"Like hell we're not." The Rebel didn't hesitate to shoot to kill. But by now Lex could stop blaster fire with the Force. The lazer blasts deflected harmlessly into the wall.

"If you're still dead-set on killing me, fine - but you'll have to do it up close."

The Rebel frowned, clearly expecting a trap, but he approached and finally levelled his blaster against Lex's head. "You're bantha fodder, Sithspawn."

But he didn't pull the trigger.

Several tense moments passed.

"If I were your enemy, would I not have killed you already?" said Lex at last.

The Rebel's frown deepened. He was staring at Lex's face, as if trying to read signs of evil in his eyes. At last he stepped back slightly and lowered his weapon.

"Okay, Sith," he said. "Your move."

At that instant Lex leapt towards him, lightsaber in hand and instantly bright. The Rebel stumbled back, tripped and fell, face open in horror. But the apprentice instead struck the air, still running forward; a cannon had come out of the ceiling and was firing upon them both, and Lex deflected the blasts, jumped up the wall and sliced the cannon in two. The Rebel was speechless. As he watched, Lex ripped two more cannons right out of the roof and landed a few feet away from him. Lex thrust a hand at him. "Come with me if you want to live. We have get off of this ship before Corvus can-"

But he was too late. The door slid open and Lex's head jerked back. Alhena stood in the doorway, holding him aloft by the neck. The Rebel hurriedly scrambled to his feet and backed away.

"I'm disappointed in you, Venom," said Darth Corvus, her tone light and chiding. "You could have killed this man with a gesture. He has no Force abilities. Without a blaster he's defenseless. Even with a blaster, he's nothing against you. Why do you pretend weakness?"

Lex replied with choking sounds. The Rebel soldier kept his blaster pointed at Corvus, but he dared not fire until she was distracted or he knew she would stop the bolts, as her apprentice had done.

"Do you wish to challenge me, Darth Venom?" the woman said with a playful laugh. "Please, try. I will be happy to gauge your progress." She dropped him, and Lex immediately whirled on her, his saber drawn and afire, and his eyes bright red with fury.

"Why?!" was all he could manage.

"All I have done has made you stronger, my apprentice. You'd see that if you weren't so blinded by the Light."

" _I hate you!_ " As he rushed at her, Alhena smiled. When lightning sprouted from his fingers, her smile became a grin - but just before it reached her, she answered it with her own.

The Rebel knew this was the moment. He fired.

Both Sith fell at the same time. Smoke rose from Lex's body, but he was still conscious and moving; Corvus was screaming. The Rebel tried to shoot her again, but she deflected the bolts and he felt he oughtn't to push his luck. Instead he ran for the open door. As he passed Alhena, she cast a burst of lightning in his direction; but Lex pushed it back. The Rebel caught him by the hand and pulled him out with him before Alhena could recover, and slammed his hand on the door's controls to close it.

"We have to get out of here," he said urgently. "Can you take us to a ship?

Lex nodded and struggled upright. He jogged down the corridors, clearly hurting, and the Rebel followed, shooting anyone he saw. Soon they had reached a hangar where a few small fighters and shuttlecraft waited. "That one," Lex mumbled, pointing towards a small ship shaped a bit like a bullet crossed with a needle. He was on the verge of collapse; the Rebel had to help him up the boarding ramp.

As they climbed into the cockpit, the Rebel took the pilot's seat and dumped the Sith in the gunner slot behind him. "Sith!" he snapped. "The security codes! I have to deactivate the forcefield or this is going to be a really short trip."

Lex murmured the codes. The Rebel punched them in and punched the engine. When they made the jump to hyperspace, he let out a whoop. "We did it! We're out!" But the Sith was already unconscious.


	10. He is given a choice

When Lex awoke, he was confused and disoriented. The ache he felt all over recalled the trials on Korriban, and he panicked and thought he was back there.

Instead, an unfamiliar place swam into existence. There were harsh white lights and metal walls, and a tall woman in a white coat who turned her head and saw him.

"Kark, the tranquilizer's wearing off," she exclaimed, jumping to her feet.

"Wait, Maya, no. Let him wake up." That came from somewhere else in the room, but Lex recognized the voice as the rebel soldier's - the man he had escaped Corvus with. And then he remembered: he had escaped Darth Corvus! He was free!

The woman walked over with a syringe. "This'll be quick, Sith," she said.

"Maya, stop. I want to talk to him."

She scowled and turned. "Fine, Kelly. You chat with the Sith. Let him mind-control you and turn you evil, no big thing."

"Maya..." But the woman had turned heel and walked out. The door slid shut behind her.

By now Lex had realised that he was in energy shackles, a few feet off the floor in what appeared to be a somewhat dumpy medical bay. The Rebel had been behind him; now he came around to the front. Lex could see some stitches above the man's eyebrow, but he looked otherwise unharmed.

"Hey," said the Rebel. "Thanks for saving me from your master, Venom."

"My name's not Venom. It's Lex."

"All right, Lex then. I'm Kelly Tibbs. You're at our base, but they, uh, weren't real happy with me for bringing Supreme Leader Corvus' personal apprentice back here with me, so... uh, you won't be getting to walk around much. Sorry."

"Is there any way I can convince them I'm not a Sith?"

"Buddy, I hate to break it to you, but you _are_ a Sith. You're Corvus' student! She called you Darth Venom! For all we know you're a spy. We can't let you out."

"All I want is to get back to my home system-"

"Yeah, but how do _we_ know that? I really am grateful towards you, Lex. I am. But I agree with the Council on this one."

Lex sighed, his joy at being free of Alhena evaporating.

"In fact," Kelly went on, "the Council wants to keep you under sedation permanently, after I told them what you did during the fight. Even restrained they think you're too dangerous. They would have killed you if I hadn't vouched for you. Admiral Bass was about ten seconds away from blowing your head off, and I said he could kill me too if you did anything, so you'd better be on good behaviour, Sith."

"Thank you for saving me a second time," said Lex.

"The first time was for me, pal. If I hadn't shot your master, we'd both be dead."

Lex couldn't argue with that. Instead he asked, "Is there going to be a trial, then? Or do I just stay here forever?"

Kelly shrugged. "I'm just a soldier. A good one, don't get me wrong. But the Council doesn't keep me in the loop. War heroes don't get to make decisions, they just get to follow orders. Frankly," he confessed, "I'm amazed they didn't kill you anyhow. They looked horrified when I told them how you fought Corvus. You'd think I'd walked in holding a thermal detonator or something."

"General Tibbs," said a sharp voice as the door slid open, "what are you doing?" A middle-aged woman with an elaborate braided bun stalked into the room. "Did anyone give you permission to fraternize with the prisoner?"

"I wasn't aware I had to get permission to have a conversation, Moff Tarsis."

"The Council has decreed-"

"So we just keep him drugged into unconsciousness forever? Is that it?"

The woman's face purpled. "Until it can be established that this 'Darth Venom' does not pose a threat to this facility-"

"Has anyone thought of taking him to the Master? No? No, of course not." Kelly Tibbs was angry; his voice was full of frustration and annoyance. The woman, Moff Tarsis, looked even angrier.

"And how are we going to bring him to the Master, hmm? Are you volunteering to be his escort?"

"I've already vouched for him with my life, so yes, I am, if that's what it takes! What we've been doing is inhumane. We're being as bad as the Empire."

Tarsis drew herself up with an infuriated inhalation. "Were you not so effective and admired a soldier, General Tibbs, the Council would surely have you court-martialled for bringing this- this- abomination into our home base! Keeping him under sedation is the most merciful thing we can do short of having him executed. You should have just let his master kill him."

Tibbs would have snapped a reply, but Lex interrupted, his voice quiet. "Who is the Master?"

Moff Tarsis glowered at him. "How dare you speak, Sith monster?!'

"The Master is a Jedi, but older and wiser than maybe any being in the galaxy," said Tibbs. "She can read people's hearts and would tell us if you are as you say, or if you're a spy after all. She's Neti, though, and already rooted, so for her to read your heart you must go to her-"

"-and she lives deep in the center of the base," finished Moff Tarsis with narrowed ice-chip eyes, "so the risk is too great. It's not happening."

"But if I go before this Master and she vouches for me," Lex persisted, "then you'll let me free, won't you?"

Moff Tarsis' lip curled. "If, hypothetically, we _could_ bring you to the Master, and she _were_ to find your heart clean, then yes, you would be released from your bonds and we would not have to keep you sedated any longer. But you would not be allowed to leave the base until we could be certain you would not betray its location to your true master, Sith."

"What if I were to let you drug me so that I could be brought to the Master without risk to your base?" Lex suggested, his mouth dry. He hated the thought of willingly becoming helpless for those who meant him harm, but as far as he could tell he had no other choice.

"Yes," said Kelly, brightening. "That's the solution! If he's knocked out, he won't be able to cause any trouble. If the Master says he's evil, we can kill him right there, and if she says he's on our side, then there's no point keeping him chained up like this. Even you, Moff Tarsis, cannot doubt the Master's judgment."

The woman took a slow, annoyed breath, but as she released it she nodded. "Yes, General Tibbs, that seems satisfactory. Let's have done with it at once. I'll gather the Council. You and Maya put him under."

As Moff Tarsis left, the woman from earlier came back in, evidently having been waiting in the corridor throughout this. She regarded Lex with hate and fear, despite, at least in Kelly's eyes, he was a pitiful thing to behold, battered and unkempt, still wounded from their escape the week previous. "Well?" she said.

"Tranquilize him like you were going to before. The Council's taking him to the Master."

Maya shook her head. "I'm not going anywhere near that thing. Too dangerous."

"Maya," snapped Kelly. "He's not a 'thing'. He's a person like you and me. You'll let her drug you, won't you, Lex? You'll be good?"

Lex nodded, trying not to draw parallels between the vial of drugs that Maya held and those the Sith had injected him with on Korriban. He had to submit now or he would never stand a chance of getting home - ever. When Maya walked over, eyeing him warily, and drove the needle painfully into his shoulder, he did not allow himself to so much as flinch. His breathing slowed, he drooped and then went limp. Maya scowled.

"You're wasting your time trying to save him, you know," she said.

Kelly's expression was defiant. "I'll leave that up to the Master to decide."

Maya shrugged. "Your funeral."


	11. He is acquitted

Lex awoke gradually. His hands were held fast inside a pair of binders that encased his arms from elbow to fingertip, presumably in an effort to keep him from using the Force against the Rebel Council. They had also blindfolded him for the same reason, which was a disorienting sensation - waking from darkness to more darkness. As he lifted his head - a pair of guards held him upright already - a man's gravelly voice said, "Finally. Tibbs, this had better work, or you'll be working sanitation from now on."

"Yes, Admiral, I know," replied Kelly from very nearby; Lex realised that the Rebel was one of the people holding him. "Come on, walk forward, slowly," said Kelly in a quieter tone, and Lex did so, feeling nervous. These people were treating him like an animal. He could not see them, true, but he could feel their hatred and suspicion bubbling through the Force and all around him. Yet near him, too, there was another presence, something... something peaceful. It reminded him of home. He moved towards it, deaf to the murmurs this provoked from the Council. Kelly and the other guard let go of him. Something else reached down and touched his forehead the way Alhena had when she wished to calm him. A pleasant, reassuring voice came into his mind - the voice of an old woman.

"The Council have asked me to read your heart, Lex Eldin," she said gently. "But I have already done it, when you first arrived. Your presence in the Force is so strong it is like a beacon to me - a gleaming light like sun flashing on silver. I know that you have been wounded, Lex. You were an outcast even on your homeworld. You have been taken from those you love, abused and betrayed. Darth Corvus manipulated you and now you are angry because those who should be your allies see you as a threat. I feel your pain burning in the Force. If you cannot learn to quench the flames, they will rise out of control and consume you. Two roads lie before you, my child. You must choose your own path - but one road leads to the Dark Side, to power and ruin, and that is not the road to healing. Follow the light or you will never find the peace you seek."

Before he could process her words, Lex felt a rush and a jolt and found himself in a dreamlike place filled with green and gold light. He moved through trees and stepped into a clearing. The place looked familiar, and suddenly Lex realised it was his old home, the plantation where he had grown up. The gaffle trees were much taller, and the house had an extra wing now. As he approached, Lex saw his parents and his siblings eating dinner on the terrace, and his heart twisted. His younger sisters were young women! And his parents had grown so old! He reached out to touch his father, but suddenly one of his sisters said, alarmed, "What was that?" and everyone looked skyward. Lex followed their gaze. A comet was streaking across the heavens, but moving closer, becoming larger and brighter until it was too bright to look upon, and everything was engulfed in blinding, screeching light-

"No!" Lex shouted, but the vision had already changed. Now he stood on the bridge of Alhena's ship, bathed in red from a giant star that took up the whole of the viewscreen. Alhena stood before him, laughing, her lightsabers drawn. "Venom, my cherished apprentice," she purred, her eyes reflecting the light of the dying sun. "So you return to face me again. Or do you return to finish what we started? My perfect assassin - my best and greatest student. You will join me or die!" She ran at him and Lex jumped back, but she moved through him like a ghost, and when he turned he saw himself, dressed as a Sith, with glowing red eyes and more tattoos, so that the design on his face was mirrored on both sides and he really did look a demon.

He saw flashes of himself bowing before Alhena, standing beside her, standing over her as she pleaded for mercy and killing her with a laugh more chilling than her own - and standing on the bridge of the planet-killer, ordering the faceless technicians to fire on the Rebel base.

"Stop!" cried Lex, his voice breaking. "Please, Master! No more of this evil vision!"

At once the dream vanished, and the Master said, pityingly, "I show you what you must see - the darkness that you could become. But this future is not set, my child. You cannot seek revenge against those who used you or you will indeed be lost. Seek the Light, Lex Eldin."

At this the Master showed him himself again, but much older, meditating on a high mountain ledge with an expression of total serenity. He saw himself helping train a new generation of Jedi, contemplating nature, tending crops and bringing the fruits of his labor to feed refugees. These impressions were of a quiet, obscure life, where his incredible power had been calmed, stilled, and silenced. Instead of using the Force against others, he used it to sense the needs of those around him, to comfort the afflicted, to mend the wounded in both spirit and body. The two versions of his future could not be in greater contrast to each other.

The Master said once more, "You must ever seek the Light," and then the vision ended. He jerked back into the present, on his knees on what felt like grass and tree roots. The Master said, still telepathically but with the impression she was speaking to the whole gathering, "I have read this man's heart, and he will pose no threat to the base. Release his restraints."

Someone jogged over and unlocked the binders. Lex pulled off the blindfold and saw that it was Kelly Tibbs, who was smiling broadly. He clapped Lex hard on the back and said, "Congratulations! You're a free man!"

"Not quite, General Tibbs," said the gravelly voice from earlier, that of the Admiral. Lex turned and saw a small gathering of old and middle-aged men and women - Moff Tarsis, a male Mon Cal, a female Devaronian, a bearded Pantoran in brown robes, and a balding, pinched-faced Human in Resistance uniform. This last one continued, "Hearts are changeable, and the power you described is too immense for us to let this man go free. The Sith will be kept under guard at all times. He will not be allowed to leave the base or to go into any critical areas. And you, General, are still responsible for his actions."

Kelly's jaw clenched, but he restrained his anger. "Yes, sir," he spat. "If that's your wish, I volunteer as guard."

"You have more important duties, Tibbs."

"They don't take up 100% of my time, Admiral Bass. Like you said: Lex is my responsibility."

"Lex?" sniffed the Devaronian.

"It's my name," said Lex quietly. "Lex Eldin. I come from the Sorrus system. I didn't choose to become Corvus' apprentice. I was in a labor camp for pushing an Imperial officer and-"

"Silence, Sith," barked Moff Tarsis. "You were not given permission to speak."

"It's just I want you to know I'm not Sith! If you can just look past my appearance-"

"Tibbs, get him out of here," said Admiral Bass, cutting him off.

"She told me she was a Jedi - she said she had rescued me and-"

"Come on," said Kelly, gently pushing Lex away from the Council. "You can tell me, but you're not going to get anywhere with them. Better not push your luck."

Lex felt a flare of rage at the closeminded Council members, but hastened to push it back down. Kelly was right, and Lex knew that Bass and Tarsis would use any excuse to have him executed, or at least clapped in binders again. He turned away and followed Tibbs down the path. Kelly, to break the silence, pressed Lex to tell him how he had come to be a Sith lord, and Lex did. "I just want to go back home," he finished. "I know I look like a monster, but perhaps there's some way to remove the tattoos. I'm sure Daria is still waiting for me. Even if she isn't, it would be a comfort to know she was doing all right herself."

Kelly listened to this thoughtfully and sympathetically. Lex was relieved; after the way the other Rebels looked at him, he had almost expected the same from Tibbs.

"The Sorrus system is pretty out of the way," Tibbs offered. "The Empire haven't any reason to trouble with it. I'm sure your girlfriend is fine."

Lex remembered Darth Corvus' threat and hoped dearly that General Tibbs was right.


End file.
